Generally, a stroller for taking a baby outdoors for a walk or shopping is provided with a carrier basket placed under a seat to contain baggage and various necessities.
Referring to FIG. 14 showing such a stroller in a perspective view, the stroller has right and left front legs 12 provided with front wheels 11, right and left rear legs 14 provided with rear wheels 13, a substantially U-shaped handle 15, right and left armrests 16, and a detachable guard arm 17 extended between the armrests 16. Rear ends of the armrests 16 are pivotally joined to lower ends of right and left side pipes 18 of the handle 15, respectively. Upper ends of the front legs 12 are pivotally joined to front ends of the armrests 16, respectively. Upper ends of the right and the left rear legs 14 are pivotally joined to middle parts of the armrests 16, respectively. Lower ends of L-shaped brackets 19 are pivotally joined to middle parts of the rear legs 14, respectively. Lower ends of the right and the left side pipes 18 are pivotally joined to middle parts of the brackets 19, respectively. When the stroller is unfolded, locking members 20 slidably mounted on lower parts of the side pipes 18 engage with upper locking parts of the brackets 19 to keep the stroller unfolded.
A front stretcher 21 is extended between the right and the left front legs 12, and a rear stretcher 22 is extended between the right and the left rear legs 14. Connecting bars 23 have front ends pivotally joined to middle parts of the front legs 12, and rear ends pivotally joined together with the brackets 19 to the lower ends of the side pipes 18, respectively. An upper connecting bar 24 is extended between middle parts of the right and the left connecting bars 23.
As shown in FIG. 14, the locking members 20 mounted on the lower ends of the side pipes 18 are engaged with upper locking parts of the brackets 19 to keep the stroller unfolded for use. When an operating device 25 mounted on the handle 15 is operated to disengage the locking members 20 from the brackets 19, the armrests 16 and the connecting bars 23 can be turned upward around pivotal joints. Thus, the front legs 12 and the rear legs 14 can be set substantially parallel to each other to fold the stroller for carrying.
Each of the front stretcher 21, the rear stretcher 22 and the upper connecting bar 24 has two pivotal joints at positions between opposite ends thereof. The pivotal joints of the front stretcher 21, the rear stretcher 22 and the upper connecting bar 24 are included in two parallel, vertical planes, and hence the front stretcher 21, the rear stretcher 22 and the upper connecting bar 24 can simultaneously be folded. Thus, the stroller can be compactly folded as shown in FIG. 15 by turning the right and the left side pipes 18 forward to turn the opposite ends of the front stretcher 21, the rear stretcher 22 and the upper connecting bar 24 after setting the front legs 12 and the rear legs 14 parallel to each other.
Generally, a carrier basket 26 is supported under the seat of a stroller as mentioned above and shown in FIG. 16 (JP2-40667U).
Since only a limited space is available for placing a carrier basket under the seat, only a carrier basket having a limited capacity can be placed under the seat. If a rigid frame is put on an open end of the carrier basket, placed under the seat of a stroller capable of being folded in three, to facilitate putting things in and taking things out of the carrier basket, structural problems arise in the stroller. Therefore, a conventional carrier basket is formed of only a flexible sewn material. This type of basket is extended rearward so that its opening is positioned behind a backrest of the seat, and the open end of the carrier basket is closed by pulling a drawstring 27. The drawstring 27 needs to be pulled to close the carrier basket and to be loosened to open the carrier basket, which makes it inconvenient for a user in terms of putting things in and taking things out of the carrier basket. When a heavy object is put in the carrier basket, it is possible that a lower part of the carrier basket sags and the lower part may scrape the ground. Therefore, as a matter of course, there is a limit to a vertical size of the carrier basket.
In some carrier baskets, a plastic bottom plate is placed therein and a number of straps for suspending a bottom part thereof is increased to prevent the carrier baskets from being dragged along the ground. However, it is possible that the bottom plate makes folding the stroller difficult.